To be a hero
by Kismet's Kiss
Summary: She looked up at him, and in that moment, where her eyes glistened with unshed tears against the fading moonlight he never felt such an overwhelming compassion for her as he did then. “Can we for once not be heroes…?” BxG For KM. R&R!


**Simply in honor of the great and loveable KitsuneMaxwell. **

**This fic focuses on Ben 10: Hero Generation. An upcoming series in relation to Ben 10 only a little bit more into the future. I can't wait! Damn next year for not coming faster. And sorry for this not coming out faster than intended. **

**Disclaimer: Nay I say! Nay!**

**Enjoy.

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"No! You are not doing it right, _here_, let me show you." A dial turn was all that was needed to be done to change the slightly older Ben into his favorite alien, four arms. "Now." His voice was deep, and the young child under his tutelage backed away slowly, simply frightened upon seeing the large creature before him.

"Hey-what do you think you are doing-Hey come back here!" Taking off to run after the kid, a log still within one of his hands, he was stopped when a barrier was placed before him. Ben grunted in annoyance as he saw the small kid with shaggy black hair take cover behind his cousin Gwen's form.

"Benjamin Tennyson." She turned towards the little boy and gave a smile at him after glaring appropriately at Ben. "Why don't you go join the others, we'll work on splitting the log in half completely later." The kid nodded meekly before running off in the other direction.

Once he was gone Ben found the barrier dissipate and he was able to move freely once again, to which he decided to go up to Gwen. "Hey, What'cha do that for? I was just going to show him something…"

"And scare him half to death? Way to go _dweeb._" Glaring, Ben timed out purposely before turning his back to his cousin. "When are you going to learn Ben? You can't just go transforming like that and showing off _your_ abilities so proudly with every new kid who shows up! They aren't use to their newly revealed powers and abilities, nevertheless _yours._"

If there was one thing Ben could live without in this world, it was definitely Gwen's nagging.

"Alright, alright, I get it _Geez_. Man, I was just trying to teach him…"

"Well you weren't doing a very good job at it." She held her hands on her hips firmly, said body part had filled out a little in correspondence to her stretching legs and lengthy torso. Her height had grown as well as her hair, reaching just above the small of her back. She decided she'd cut it when she really needed to.

Ben, infuriated at being scolded, _again_, by Gwen, crossed his slowly developing muscular arms. His lean form was slumped, never once learning to give off a proper stance, back straight, head held up high. He wasn't one for proper etiquette. "Oh quit it _Gwendolyn_, why don't we just take a lunch break, I'm starving!"

"Just like you…whenever you want to avoid discussion you want to eat!" She huffed indignantly as he walked by her nonchalant towards the resting grounds, Grandpa Max's RV in the clearing with him inside cooking up a dish that made the younger kids puke in disgust. Reluctantly she too followed when she heard her stomach growl, and to looks of it, by the loud laughter, Ben heard too.

"Not hungry eh Gwen?"

"Shut up." Taking a seat by him, a few of the trainees came by and sat across from them, momentarily before getting up and saying they were going to go into town and check out the sites. Ben and Gwen smirked, knowing full well it was just a code for getting real food. Bending her head low, inching closer to Ben she conveyed her feelings in a whisper. "We going to hi-tail it out of here too?"

Ben side glanced at her before turning his sights on his grandfather's back as he sung a happy tune preparing the dishes. "no." he let out softly. She groaned. Lately Ben had becoming more and more like the future Ben she had remembered in her trip to the lives that was held before them.

He was pushing the kids under their training to the max, never really giving them a chance to shine, always critiquing them for minor faults. Whenever she had attempted to say something to him about it he would scoff, ignore her and say he was hungry. Work and food, horrible food she noted, was the only thing on Ben's mind nowadays.

"I don't wanna eat this…let's go into town, please? Use XLR8." It was a plea more than a demand, something she usually wouldn't do but she was desperate, she was in much need of getting away from this slave driving work place, even for a moment's instance.

"No. We need to eat quick and go back to work Gwen." He muttered miserably, something about his tone made her turn to him and frown in despondence. "Don't look at me like that. There's work to do. I think there may be an alien at the factory a couple of miles down the road up to no good."

"Here you go guys. Hey, where are the kids?"

"Gone Gramps, they went into town. I don't think they are going to be coming back for the remainder of the day." Max nodded his head in sadness towards Ben's answer, turning his back on his grandchildren he waved absentmindedly. "I think I am going to go in and take a nap, you kids call me if anything."

"We are not kids." Gwen scoffed. Ben glared. Max laughed before disappearing into the RV. As they ate silently Gwen peeked at Ben a couple of times before he jerked his head in her direction. "What?!" She snapped her head back in shock before regaining her composure and scowling at him.

"What is up with you! You have no right to snap at me."

"Well you were staring at me, and I don't take to kindly at that."

"I swear you can be such a jerk!" Slamming her hands upon the table, with her utensils along for the ride she got up angrily and stormed off aimlessly in the opposite direction of where Ben sat. Not knowing what to do, and apart of him not really caring, he sat there idly before growling in annoyance and taking off after her.

"Hey, hold up!"

"Leave me alone!" He caught up to her easily but he found himself flying backwards and ultimately falling on his behind when she muttered a simple incantation in utter fury. Gasping upon realizing how rash she was behaving Gwen ran back to Ben's fallen form, attempting to pick him up he allowed her but muttered a 'nice going' causing her to let go of him and for him to fall on the floor once more.

"For once, just _once_, do you think you could be nice Ben? You have been so hell-bent on eliminating all the evil aliens and enemies on the face of the planet I think you really **are** going to turn out like-"

"Don't say it."

"It's true though! You saw it for yourself, yeah, for that one day we may have changed his attitude, but you are still you, and you might very well just stay that way! Things may be written in stone and…" She couldn't finish it, the thought of growing up to face a future like she had seen sadden her. She would be fighting crime, yes, but at what price? Not having a life of her own, and what's worse, not having a family there to support her, sans her grandpa, but to lose her relationship with Ben in the process...

Was it worth it?

Sighing he haphazardly lifted himself off the ground, dusting off his pants he walked over to Gwen and placed his hands firmly on her shoulders, causing her gaze to meet his penetrating sight. "It won't happen. I'll make sure of it. I just don't want this generation of heroes to be weak Gwen…if anything was to happen to me, I don't want you to be out there fighting by yourself, risking…well, I-"

She smirked.

"Benjamin Tennyson, are you admitting that you care about me?" She jabbed him softly in his chest, poking him in humor, mocking his confession of concern for her well being. He arched an eyebrow and frowned.

"Of course not." He let his hands fall to his sides as he stepped back, opting to look at the ground instead of her playful gaze. He kicked the dirt about the ground before he chose to speak again only to be interrupted by an explosion. "What was that?!"

"Sounds like it came from over there!" Pointing in the direction of her suggestion they took chase to the scene. Once there, it was indeed a place of incident as they came upon a debris filled factory, or what was left of it. He turned his head towards his cousin.

"I told you." She glared pointedly before making her way through the rumble.

"I wonder what could have happened…"

"A bad ass alien, that's what." Kicking some rocks, he searched the ground for anything that might give evidence to the culprit of the attack. Gwen, being brilliant in deduction was the first to find any means of a clue picking up, carefully, a piece of what seemed to be a glowing patch of clothing.

"I wonder…what this is, look at the substance, there's regular material, as if it's from the cloth of _my_ back but it has this…goo like essence."

"Yeah yeah brainiac, we get it, it's weird. What else does it tell us?" She glared, something she found she was doing a lot today.

"Well, _Ben_, it tells us that whomever did this was wearing, what seems to be human clothing. I'm thinking it was someone turned radioactive, the question is-"

"Who did it." She nodded as he finished off the conclusion for her, they searched the area some more, before nearby military officials showed up. Taking their leave, they went on route to what they thought would be the next possible target of attack. "If they want to blow up factories so much, then we should go to the steel mill factory next to here."

Agreeing, Gwen hopped on to Ben's back lazily as he transformed into Stinkfly, flying them over to the confirmed destination. Once there, they found just what they were looking for. With an exuberant 'there!' causing Ben to quirk an eyebrow at his cousin's liveliness, a suspect was pointed out.

It didn't take long to confront the seemingly bad alien, striking him down with his special sticky spit, Ben rendered him helpless to the ground, or so they thought before it glowed bright enough to blind them momentarily.

A scream was heard on Gwen's behalf. Snapping his alien eye's open he saw her within the grips of the melting alien, whatever he was made of, decomposing rapidly. "GWEN!!" Quickly Ben sped to reach the creature, but was thrown back as part of the creatures form, his free arm to be specific, was hurled towards him, knocking him to the ground.

"Ben!! Let go of me you disgusting thing!! _Imendus Rependo_!!" Gwen's form, becoming distorted in a shimmering glaze allowed her to wiggle free from the monster's grips, and then with it she followed up with an attack, one that levitated the assailant high enough so when it came crashing back down, immobilized it for some few moments.

Running over to Ben whom had reverted back to himself, she helped him up with as much effort as she could give, the sticking, slimy illuminating substance on his form proving to be a difficult task to overcome. "Here, stick your arm out." He did as he was told, not noticing how the creature they were against was slowing putting itself together again. "_Distinga Curera_!" For a few moments there was a clearing about Ben's Omnitrix. "Quickly."

She needn't say more, spinning the dial quickly Ben transformed into Heatblast, wanting to burn the ugly bastard that dared to lay hand on him. As soon as he was transformed he caught sight of the monster attempting to attack Gwen from behind, shoving her aside he took the full hit.

"Ben!" He got up quickly, motioning to her he was alright. "Go around back!" She nodded and obeyed him without a seconds thought. "Time to heat things up!" In a heightened speed, all in thanks to his vigorous training in the last few years, he quickly outran the monster's gaze and in a supernova like move, encircled the monster in flames. "Contain it Gwen! Now!"

Placing her hands up she closed her eyes. "_Incario Gendara, Enclanado_!" A bluish green hue of color wrapped itself around the enraging flames. Heatblast came to stand next to Gwen, his burning form ready to continue fighting. Hearing the sirens from afar they knew the military was close. They have been on top of alien activity quite recently, taking all of captured evil do-ers into custody before Ben and the team could do a thing about it.

Gwen looked over at him concerned before back at the encased flames. Muttering a water spell, simple and easy to drench the flames, to see what became of the monster left inside, her eyes widened, along with Ben's as they found nothing but a saturated person. "Ben!" Running over to the being, Ben stopped her with his gruff voice.

"Gwen don't, the military." She looked torn.

"But Ben-It's, I think he was changed forcibly-we can't-" His look told her there was no disagreement to be made. A look of contempt was all that was left as he grabbed on to her and changed into XRL8. Growing up, and learning how to handle the Omnitrix better definitely came in handy in the current days.

* * *

She didn't know how late it was, nor did she care. She found at night, when the stars were out, and everyone was presumed to be asleep, even the villains, was the only time for peace to commence.

She sniffled softly, bringing her sleeve up to her nose and rubbing it softly before using her index finger to wipe a lone tear harshly away.

"You shouldn't be up." She squeaked softly before turning around. She couldn't even bring herself to glare at his disheveled form, she hate to admit that she always found him cute when he had just woken up or he was too busy playing hero or video games to dress himself appropriately.

"Could say the same for you." He sighed and sat beside her restlessly. "What are you doing?"

"Sitting next to you."

"Why." He sighed once more, running a hand through his hair before placing it back upon his outstretched leg gingerly.

"Always a battle with you Gwen. Why are you up…and crying?" Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second before dying back down. Turning her head she refused to speak, providing him an answer would just lead to more questions.

"Come on Gwen, what's wrong?" He shuffled closer to her, unaware of the close proximity Gwen only took notice when, after she still refused to respond, he took her hand in his own. "You have to stop giving me the cold shoulder. I'm trying to comfort you here yanno." he smirked.

Startled by the innocent action she was stunned speechless, blushing slightly afterwards as she kept her hand loosely within his grip. She allowed her body to lay down, on the grassy field underneath her gracefully, Ben being tugged along for the ride. Her soft giggle caused him to smile slightly, small enough for it to go unnoticed.

"This is nice."

He conceded, nodding his head in the process. Their hands were still intertwined as they stared up at the stars. "But it's not enough." He moved his head sideways, the grass brushing softly against his cheek as he turned to look at her questioningly. "This moment of peace…and tranquility, Ben, it's not enough."

"What do you mean Gwen?" She continued to stare at the stars for a brief moment before, she too, turned her head towards her cousin, their noses were mere inches apart, and Ben could feel her steady breathing that only once in awhile broke in its continuous pattern as if she was holding back a sob.

"…nothing…" halfheartedly she closed her eyes and went back to directing her face towards the skies, never once escaping the hold of her cousin's hand on her own. "If only the military could take care of all the villains in the world…maybe then we could-"

"That's it!" Diverting her gaze back to her now sitting up cousin, his ecstatic face leering at her waiting for her undivided attention, she wondered what could have been so important to interrupt her musings.

"What is…?" He grimaced for a bit before placing a fist into the palm of his hand, his legs crossed over he was obviously proud of his thought process.

"The military! Gwen! Don't you see? They obviously have something to do with the recent attacks within this area! I think they are…experimenting or something, they are doing something to these test subjects, you saw the man, and they were there, right on time, at every scene and-"

"Ben…" He wouldn't stop.

"You have to admit Gwen, it might be the truth! We should infiltrate their main base, pull up some information and crack down their operation! They are testing on innocent people here!" Jumping up she reached out to grab him instantly, dragging back to the ground exasperated.

"Good going genius, but it's…" She looked down at her watch, squinting to read the time. "...3 am. I don't think you are going to get anything done at this ti-"

"The later the better, patrol will be down!"

"No. It won't Ben. It's a military base. Why can't we just…write it off as mere coincidence?"

"What are you saying Gwen? That you want to pretend you didn't see what we _did _see? You want to let it go just like that?" He was standing now, his fists bawled.

"No! I'm just saying…" She was pleading now, rising now as well.

"I can't believe you Gwen, I thought you cared about saving the day, I thought you cared about saving people's lives and keeping the planet safe!" His eyes were wide, frantic even. He hadn't slept in awhile, and the sleepless nights were now being reflected in his hallow eyes. He would know, each and every time, when Gwen rose from her bed and went outside to stare at the stars for hours on end. He would know, he would know each and every time how she cried, and he had not once, not until today, come out to her.

"We have a job to do Gwen! It's our duty to protect people with the powers that were given to us!"

"You think I don't know that?!" She moved her body purposely towards him, filled with rage she shoved him, not once thinking the commotion would wake their sleeping Grandfather. "You think I don't **care?!**" The tears were coming up again and she had to repress the feeling of slumping to her knees and crying out.

How was a kid honestly expected to continue saving the world, putting their lives at risk day to day, and not break down under the overwhelming feeling of it all alone?

"Can we…" she hiccupped, grabbing onto his form without thought in an attempt to try and steady herself. She took no notice of how he instantly grabbed on to her hands in response, holding on to them in concern and automatically wanting to help ease her shaking form into comfort.

She looked up at him, and in that moment, where her eyes glistened with unshed tears against the fading moonlight he never felt such an overwhelming compassion for her as he did then. "Can we for once not be heroes…?"

He was taken aback, staring at her wide eyed as she spoke her words softly, her movements just as soft as her face came closer to his, as if every move was so fragile that she would shatter into a million pieces if he so much as contradicted it.

He had a sinking feeling then, as her lips parted to speak again, once more. When his grip on her tightened and he felt his heart race, he knew this was a moment of dread.

"…for once, maybe be…" She tip-toed. She wouldn't have had to a few years ago, when she was taller, but the years had been kind to Ben, stretching him out further than the cousin in his hands at this very moment. "…something more?…"

He had closed his eyes, for the briefest of seconds, he knew that. Just as she did, it was a reaction to an impending kiss, an automatic response to something that would have set the future for them both. It was a response to something they both had wanted to happen. Yet, in that very moment, he had turned his head away rapidly, curtly. She snapped her eyes open wide, embarrassed, let down, full of hurt.

"I'm a hero and if you don't like it-"

"I like it more than you will ever know…" she broke from his grip and hurriedly pushed passed him, bumping his shoulder in the process, a trickle of tears to flow after, reaching his peripheral vision. His hands hung loosely in the air from the break in contact that was forcibly taken away from him.

Cocking his head back, staring at the sky once more he closed his eyes lithely, wanting the world to just stop-no, to rewind. Rewind so he could take back his words…but what could it do anyways?

He noted to himself, to be a hero. The world always comes first. No matter what he wanted, it would never take precedence over what needed to be done in his name. To be a hero…he was not free to chose a path for himself, not free to chose a life to lead, for it was already made out for him.

"Gwen…"

To be a hero meant to be loved, but to never love.

The danger was just too great.

**I know this was horrible, I am super sorry. KM, please forgive me for making such a crappy one-shot in your name haha :huggles: **

**I'll do my best to make it up to you. And StorymasterQ, you rock hehe. As does all BenxGwen fans! **

**I might…**_**might**_** make this a two-shot, simply because my fluffy happy ending side is squealing for it, but I might not just as well, I don't know. This really was a nice break from Future Secrets, but I still count Future Secrets as my pride and joy hehe. Go read it if you haven't and can!**

**P.s. Gwen and Ben's exchange of being a hero and wanting to be something more, was taken from Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo. Yeah I know, I suck, but it's really what inspired me to create this one-shot idea in honor of KM.**


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